Who am I?
by Savanor
Summary: Naruto was given up to the fourth to be the sacrifice against Kyuubi. Who is his family and why did they do this? Plus he has been finding himself acting stranger than normal with a few unexpected gifts. A new bloodline perhaps? The search for his family
1. Prologue

In which it all starts 

Konoha was considered to be one of the great shinobi villages. The strongest known ninjas hailed from that village; Tsunade, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and of course the Yellow Flash, Arashi. Things were looking promising for this village until the disaster struck one fateful October night. For out of the East came a terrifying creature that was simple known as the Kyuubi because of its' nine tails.

No one knows why this fearsome fox decided to attack the village. Maybe it was being controlled by a faction against them, or having revenge on the village for some imagined slight or it could be that it just like to destroy and decided that Konoha was first. But it came that night and rained destruction on the village with its' tails and paws. Many a ninja were slain that night. The Hyuuga's couldn't close its' chakra holes nor could the Uchiha's fire techniques slow it down.

In the Hokage tower, a yellowed haired young man was busy researching different methods to take down the monstrosity outside the village walls. Beside him was a white haired man with red marks from eye to bottom of cheeks who was helping him in the research. Occasionally an ANBU came in to give reports on the battle with the fox.

The yellow haired man had a frantic look on his face as he went back and forth with different scrolls of seals. His face lit up with a look of triumph and relief as he said:

"Jiraiya! I found a solution for our predicament!"

"You did!?" The white haired man named Jiraiya said in excitement. "Well, what is it Arashi?"

Arashi pulled up a couple blank scrolls and with a pen made a complicated spiral seal on one of them. He showed it to Jiraiya and said:

"This is what we can do; we'll simply seal away the Kyuubi into a container. We can't destroy it since it is too strong and legends do say that the Kyuubi can rebuild its' body if it is destroyed. By sealing it, we can save the village and have more time to find a way to destroy the Kyuubi."

"How are we to do this? Kyuubi won't let us walk up to it and seal him away. And what kind of container will hold a demon?" Jiraiya asked while scanning the seal.

Arashi grimaced at these questions and replied:

"From what I researched, the only thing that contain the Kyuubi's power is a newborn babe since their chakra coils are not developed yet and the babe can grow into carrying the fox's power. As to how we will seal the fox inside the babe, I will have to use the Death God summoning to do it."

Jiraiya leapt up at that statement and cried out:

"What! You can't really mean that Arashi?! You know what happens to those who summon the Death God."

"I know." Arashi said quietly, "Your soul is put into the Death God's stomach for ten thousand years." He gave Jiraiya a fierce look and pointed a finger to outside. "But I will do anything to save my precious people from it all! You don't know the summoning and the Third is too weak to perform it since he unfortunately caught a nasty flu virus. That leaves only me to do the summoning and I swore when I took up the position of hokage that I will protect this village to my dying breath."

Jiraiya had a defeated look on his face since he knew that Arashi was right and wouldn't let anyone else do the summoning. He said:

"I understand Arashi, but it doesn't mean I'll like it. Whose baby are you going to use in the summoning?"

"Well, if I had a child of my own, I'd use them in a heartbeat but since I'm a bachelor and fatherless; I will have to quickly find someone else's child."

"Who would be willing to give their child up as a sacrifice?"

"I don't know Jiraiya. I will get some ANBU to look around for volunteers and hope that someone is willing." Arashi then proceeded to do so and sent a couple of ANBU to search the village for newborns.

While waiting for the search results, Arashi and Jiraiya were making preparations for the sealing. A room in the Hokage tower was soon covered in seals and a small alter with four candles were set in the middle of the room in readiness of the sacrifice. Soon all was finished with the preparations and waited for the baby. A silver haired ANBU with one eye showing soon burst into the room with an orange bundle in his arms.

"Sensei!" He yelled, "Here's the child you wanted!"

"That's good Kakashi." Arashi said as he took the bundle from Kakashi. He look down at a tiny baby with a full shock of bright yellow hair. "Good gracious, he looks kind of like me!"

"Any lady friends you were visiting lately that you might want to tell us?" Jiraiya asked with a perverted look on his face.

Arashi scowled at Jiraiya. "No, I haven't been seeing anyone lately. I have been too busy being a Hokage to have time to visit anyone." He looked over to Kakashi and asked: "Whose child is this anyway Kakashi?"

Kakashi had a puzzled look on his face. "You know, I really don't know whose child this is. I was traveling on the outer edges of the village to find if any families with children were living in that area when near training ground 44 entrances I saw a…." Kakashi trailed off as his face got more confused.

"You saw what?" Jiraiya asked impatiently

"I'm not really sure." Kakashi replied, unsure of his answer. "My memory seems really fuzzy on that aspect. What I do recall is a woman wearing fancy orange silk robes pacing in front of the training ground. I can't tell you what her looks were or even age but I can't get the image of those bright orange robes she wore.

Anyway, she was pacing back and forth in front of the entrance with a look of indecisiveness on her face. Tears were falling, that I remember. The baby was being carried in front of her. I approached her to tell her that she could be in danger of Kyuubi when she saw me and broke off with her pacing. She seem to resolve herself and walked right up to me and plunked the baby into my arms while saying: 'Here's the child you need. He is an orphan and has no name. Use him in sealing the Kyuubi. Now go!' I then found myself running to the Hokage tower."

Arashi and Jiraiya both stared at Kakashi in disbelief. Arashi then had a thoughtful look on his face before saying:

"She could been using a genjutsu on you to make you not remember her. I do not understand why she doesn't want us to know the child's mother. Bright orange robes you say?" He asked Kakashi who quickly nodded his head. Arashi turned to Jiraiya and asked:

"Do you know anyone who would were bright orange fancy robes and good at genjutsu?"

Jiraiya shook his head no and said: "Lets not forget that if she was good at genjutsu she could of disguised her clothes also."

"That's not all I remember," Kakashi interrupted Jiraiya as a memory surfaced to his mind. "I had out my sharigran in case Kyuubi swung my way. If she was using a genjutsu, it's a very good one cause I couldn't see through it."

Arashi and Jiraiya had a dumbstruck look on their faces at this. The sharigran couldn't see through the genjutsu? What kind of power did this child's mother have? They stared down in wonder at the child in Arashi's arms who gave a yawn and open his eyes to show a deep blue color. The moment was soon shattered at the sound of a howl Kyuubi gave. Arashi got a determined look on his face turned to look at Jiriaya.

"It is time Jiraiya. The mother of this child gave consent and abandon him so he will be the container of Kyuubi. Let's get ready for the ceremony." He gave the child to Jiraiya to prepare and turned to Kakashi. "Kakashi, I need you to tell the everyone that I will be coming out to help soon to deal with the demon. They just need to hold it off for just a little bit longer."

Kakashi nodded his head in acknowledgement and teleported out of the room. Jiraiya was quickly unwrapping the baby from the orange clothes when he paused and asked Arashi:

"What will the child's name be since the mother didn't give one to Kakashi?"

Arashi looked down at the child in Jiraiya's arms and thought for a moment. He brighten in thought and said:

"Well, if he were my child; I would name him Naruto."

"Honestly Arashi, you like ramen way too much." Jiraiya accused him with a smile and then said "What will be his last name?"

"Since I'm the last one in my clan and he's been abandoned; I might as well adopt him and he can have my last name Uzumaki."

Jiraiya nodded his head and resumed preparing the child now dubbed Naruto. Naruto was placed on the alter where he slept quietly on. The flames of the candles strangely flickered around him.

Jiraiya turned to face Arashi to give his farewell. Arashi smiled sadly and said:

"Well this is it Jiraiya. I'm going to head out and summon the Toad boss to help me out. You know it will be a success when the seal appears on the Naruto's stomach. The memories with you are great; though I could have done without the females attacking me when you infuriated them with your peeking."

Jiraiya gave a small smile at this before saying: "I will miss you my student and all the women that use to flock around you. You helped inspire a lot of my writings with that crowd of females following you."

Arashi shook his head and gave a small laugh. His face turned serious as he said: "I want you to keep an eye out for Naruto when you can. I love this village but some people here are incredible thick headed and may think that Naruto is Kyuubi. He deserves some help in life since he was given up for this purpose."

Jiraiya gave a 'Hai' in agreement with Arashi and watched as Arashi waved goodbye and left the building to face off Kyuubi. He then looked down at Naruto on the alter and watched him to pass the time.

A great howl was heard were he was standing and he could hear the muffle clashes of Kyuubi and Arashi. A few moments later there was a great screech of terror and then utter silence. The candles that surrounded Naruto flared up high and the seal on the floor beneath the alter glowed brightly. A swirling seal appeared on Naruto's stomach and the child woke up and wailed loudly. Jiraiya approached the alter and picked up Naruto. He watched in detachment as three horizontal lines appeared on each of Naruto's cheeks. He then held the child close to him and mourned silently for the passing of his student Arashi.


	2. AN unusual discovery

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

**A/N:** This happens right after the Wave mission arc.

**Chapter 2**

**In which Naruto has an Unusual Discovery**

Thirteen years later after the foxes attack; we find the crack of dawn appearing over the horizon. The sound of sleepy birdcalls could be heard and the night patrol turned over to daytime patrol. Not much has Konoha changed with the exception of destroyed buildings during the attack being repaired and a few more added on in the village. The sunlight crept slowly over buildings until a single ray worked its' way through a blind to land smack dab on a whiskered marked face.

Naruto found himself to be awakened instantly by the thin sunbeam. Truth be, he was partially awake when the sun first came over the horizon but had decided to laze in bed until the light reached his eyes. He found himself to be very energetic when awaken and promptly bounced out of bed to be ready for the day. It was strange to him as to why he was so awake at this time of the morning when usually it took him a good half hour to a full hour to wake up fully. It was only 5 am, yet here he was wide awake and ready to go. It seemed the habit started right after that fateful trip to wave country.

He still felt apprehensive whenever he thought about that mission. Facing down an A-ranked missing ninja, Zabuza, and his partner, Haku, of almost equal power was not fun. In fact, a part of him acknowledged that his team barely made it through and survived on dumb luck and the power of the Kyuubi unleashed. He still didn't like to think about the rage he felt at that time that caused him to unleash that power and cracked the seal on him. Who knows what the consequences would be if he managed to kill Haku with Kyuubi's power.

The funny thing was that after that fateful battle on the bridge, he began to find himself waking up at the crack of dawn every morning no matter what time he went to bed late at night. He would be bed an hour before and yet he always found himself wide awake at dawn. In connection to that, he found himself needing less sleep than usual. He discovered that he could get away easily with only four hours of sleep and still wake up refresh and ready to go at dawn. He wondered if it had something to do with his cracking of the seal.

Tossing that matter aside in his head; Naruto headed over to the shower in preparation of the day. Banging the pipes leading to the shower head, he turned on the shower and planned his day while washing himself. His body briefly winced at the feeling of cold water but quickly adjusted to it. A part of him wished that the landlord would fix the pipes but it would be a cold day in hell before that would happen. He hummed to himself while thinking of the day ahead.

While supposedly the team meetings would start at 8 am; he knew full well that his teacher, Kakashi, would not arrive for at least an hour or two. He could never understand why his teacher was so late to all the meetings yet commanded them to arrive on time. So he had about another four or five hours to kill before he had to go to the bridge where team 7 met.

He knew that after they met and Sakura and him did the whole 'you're late!' spiel to Kakashi; they would either be given their usual stupid D-ranked mission or supposedly do some 'team' training. Yeah right, more like he would get into a brawl with Sasuke, lose, and then have Sasuke taken aside by Kakashi to get some special training for the sharigan. He and Sakura never got any special training from Kakashi. When Kakashi took Sasuke aside, Naruto would go ask Sakura for a date but usually is turned down in favor of watching Sasuke training. Naruto would then proceed to leave for ramen or go somewhere else to train by himself. He was frustrated with himself.

That mission to wave had really shaken him up. Getting almost killed by missing ninja had opened Naruto's eyes to the fact that it was not all fun and games to being a ninja. Someday he would have to kill to protect his teammates and family. He did not look forward to that but at the mean time he needed to get better. Watching that fight between Kakashi and Zabuza showed him that he needed a bigger repertoire in jutsu and to always have a back up card in hand. The chidori really impressed him in a horrified way when he saw it rip right through Haku's chest.

There was a couple of problems to learning new jutsu for Naruto. One, Kakashi hadn't been willing to teach him any jutsu. Kakashi had really taught him one thing only and that was how to walk up trees. The man didn't even teach him how to fight properly and Naruto knew that his fighting style was sloppy. No one in the academy was willing to teach him the right way and Iruka came too late in his learning to teach him. The second problem to his learning of new jutsu is that he didn't want Sasuke to steal it from him with his sharigan. He never liked the idea of Sasuke copying his attacks and using them without the hard work he put in to it. He wished there was away to make it impossible for Sasuke to copy him.

That's was what he was doing for the last couple of mornings with his free time. He was, surprisingly enough, researching different methods of performing jutsu that Sasuke wouldn't be able to copy. He vividly remembered Haku's ability to make half hand seals work and wondered if it was possible for him to do that. So far, all of his practicing of half hand seals have come to naught.

He looked into ways of making a jutsu to block Sasuke's powers but that was coming up empty handed too. That brought him to the point were he simply decided to invent his own jutsu and work it with half seals. Problem with that was he had to look up the effect of each of the different hand seals and the library wasn't willing to let him check out scrolls unless the Hokage was with him. Stupid librarians with long memories. So he pranked them once; that shouldn't mean he should be banned forever from the library.

Naruto grumbled to himself as he squirted some shampoo in his hands without looking and rubbed it in his hair. His fingers massaged it in gently and he noticed that his fingertips didn't feel tingly like they had been for the last couple of days.

That had started up when they finally came home after the mission. His fingertips just started to itch and tingle like crazy. He didn't dare go visit the hospital to get it looked at since the hospital tended to make his conditions worse by 'accident'. In fact, he hadn't visit the hospital or seen a doctor in years because he knew full well that the doctors and nurses didn't care for him at all. Him with the whole container of the Kyuubi and all. He did mentioned it to Kakashi but his teacher told him to go see a doctor about it which didn't help him at all. He decided to wait it out and only go to the hospital if it seemed like the condition was spreading or getting worse. He didn't understand what caused it to start but he was very happy to find it stopped.

His shower done, Naruto stepped out of the shower stall and went to towel himself off with a thin towel. Mumbling about stingy merchants with over priced goods, Naruto dried off his body. He then notice something odd about his hands when he went over them with the towel and somehow caused a rip to appear in the clothe. He examined the rip carefully which looked to be like it was made from a knife. He then looked at his hands and discovered that he didn't have nails anymore but claws.

Naruto opened his mouth in horror and gave off a loud screech of surprise over this. He soon stopped though as he heard the yells from his neighbors to shut up and go back to sleep. He definitely didn't want anyone to see him like this. He quickly got dressed in his everyday out fit consisting of an orange jumpsuit while taking care not to rip the material with his new claws. He walked over to his tiny kitchen at the end of his bedroom in his two room apartment. Preparing his typical meal of ramen, he sat down at his table covered with scrolls and ninja gear. He studied his left hand as he ate with his right.

First thing he noticed was they were definitely bigger than Kiba's and looked a lot more deadly. The claws had a thick base and curved into a wicked point. The coloring of the claws were black. He stared at them nervously. He could cause some serious damage with them if his poor towel was of any indication. "Why was this happening?' was one of the thoughts that came to mind to him and 'The villagers are going to kill me'.

He gazed at his hands in worry and wondered over the implications this could mean. Did this happened because his seal cracked and Kyuubi screwed his body over. He wouldn't put it pass the furball to make his life more miserable since in history it took delight in killing all those ninjas long ago along with the Fourth. No, he wouldn't put it past him at all. What else could it mean?

He thought of heading over the Hokage right now to show him but first he need to disguise his hands so he wouldn't set off a mob after him. He couldn't henge his hands since his talants in that area were not that good and the ANBU who guarded the Hokage would immediately notice the henge and dispel it. He began to search his apartment for some gloves to hid the claws.

To his frustration, he couldn't even find a mitten much less gloves to cover his hands. He then made a vow silently to himself to get a pair as soon as possible since he really didn't want Sakura or Sasuke to see his hands like this and start asking questions. His luck then brighten as he discovered a couple rolls of bandages in his bathroom. Quickly he wound the bandages over his hands and had to wind it a couple times around the claws since they kept poking through the clothe. The effect of the bandages around his claws gave the look of extra long fingers with balls on the end. He wasn't satisfied with it but it was the best he could do.

He then walked out of his apartment and looked the door behind him. He took to the roofs to hurry his journey to the hokage tower. While he was still very anxious to see the Hokage over the matter with his hands, a part of him still felt the thrill and joy of roof hopping. He could never get tired of jumping incredible distances up high in the air and a part of him strongly wished he could simply fly for sheer fun. If he had to choose between walking and roof hopping; he would always choose roof hopping. The small part of him that enjoyed the journey to the hokage tower soon end as he found himself in front of the building.

While it was still very early in the morning, Naruto could still see a steady stream of ninja coming in and out of the building. He figured it was mostly due to the changeover from night patrol to daytime patrol that cause the increase in traffic. He hopped down from the top of the building he was standing on and jogged up to the front doors. He entered the building and made a beeline to the stairs that lead up to the Hokage's office. He went up and entered a room that contain a sleepy secretary and two ANBU guards for the door to the Hokage's office. He walked up to the secretary and said in a quiet nervous tone:

"I need to see the Hokage. It's really important."

The secretary gave him a sleepy frown and briefly looked at the appointment book in front of her. Naruto shifted from one foot to another while waiting for her to finish looking. He knew that the secretary was deliberately making him wait to see the Hokage since it's rare for the Hokage to have appointments this early in the morning. He knew better than to barge in with the ANBU and the secretary looking at him in a mean way since it probably lead to the ANBU attacking him and discovering his new claws which he didn't want to happen. He found himself waiting for an hour before the secretary pressing the button for the intercom.

"Hokage-sama, Naruto is here to see you. He says it's something really important."

An old voice came over the intercom in reply:

"Send him in, I'm curious to know what brought him here today before his team meeting."

The secretary lazily pointed to the Hokage's door and waved the ANBU guards aside. Naruto tried his best to hide his bandaged hands from them as he opened the door and went inside. He then closed the door behind him quickly.

The Third, better known as 'Old man' to Naruto, was sitting behind his desk and smoking a pipe. He raised an eyebrow over Naruto's strange quietness and motioned him to sit down which Naruto did. He studied him for a moment before asking:

"What is the matter Naruto? You're acting quieter than normal."

"Something really strange has happened to me, Old Man." Naruto said in an odd tone as he unwrapped one of his hands.

"Oh? What has happened to you then?" The Third asked as he leaned forward to get a better look at what Naruto was doing.

"This." Naruto said simply as he showed his clawed hand to him. The Third's eyes opened wide at the sight of the claws and his body went into automatic to knock out his smoldering pipe into an ash tray. He gestured Naruto to bring his hand closer and grasped it to examine it better. He turned it over and noted the sharpness, hardness, and the hook shape of them which determined them to be more akin to talons than claws. Naruto whispered:

"I think this may have something to do with what happened on the mission to Wave country."

"Indeed," The Third replied as ran a finger over one of the talons which brought a small cut on his finger. He released Naruto's hand and sank back into his chair while saying:

"I do remember the report of that mission. If I recall correctly, the seal of Kyuubi was cracked and you summoned a massive amount of Kyuubi's power to defeat a missing-nin. That could of cause some changes in your body to accommodate the power."

"This is different!" Naruto protested, "When I summoned the power, my hands had claws more like Kiba's, my eyes were red, and I had some fangs! After the power went away, I found myself to be back to normal. Why would my hands change into something like this!" He then made a clawing motion at the Hokage to emphasize his point.

"I don't know Naruto." The Hokage sighed "No one has been the container of the Kyuubi before you and we do not know the effects of channeling its' power. This could very well be a side effect of that like your whisker marks."

Naruto put a hand to his cheek where his whisker marks where. "You mean that I didn't always have whisker marks?" he asked.

"It has been documented that you didn't have marks on your cheeks until after the Kyuubi was sealed into you." the Hokage replied.

Naruto's head went down on that remark. He whispered: "A part of me was hoping that I could trace my family with those marks."

"I'm sorry Naruto." The Third look at him sorrowfully. "As I told you before, no one knows who your family is. All that is known is the woman who gave you up wore a bright orange robe. No one saw her face. We couldn't find her after the sealing ceremony."

Naruto sighed over that. He always did wonder why his family gave him up and never come to take him back. Why did they not want him? He desperately wanted a family of his own. While he could call his old teacher Iruka a big brother; Iruka couldn't spend all his time with him. His musings were interrupted as the Third continued on.

"Onto the matter at hand, what are you going to do about this Naruto? See a doctor on removing them?"

"No!" Naruto blurted out. He certainly was not going to see a doctor. Most likely the doctor would remove them in the most painful way and/or tell the village that he was becoming the Kyuubi. The Third was slightly taken aback with Naruto's forcefulness on that.

"If not that, what else would you do?" he asked

"It probably wouldn't work out." Naruto said slowly as his mind churned over ideas on what to do. "I tend to heal really fast, thanks to the Kyuubi, and most likely regrow the claws back." His mind suddenly hit on an idea and he brighten in thought of it while continuing on. "Since removing them won't work, how about coming up with an explanation I could tell my teammates about why I have claws. Like a bloodline or something like that." That sounded like a good idea to him. Brilliant idea he thought to himself.

The Third nodded in agreement and stroked his chin in thought. He gave a small smile to Naruto and said:

"Congratulations Naruto. It looks like you have woken up a brand new bloodline during your battle against Haku. Since it is undocumented, I'll need you to report to me every now and then if something new pops up with it. It will be interesting to see what your new bloodline will do."

Naruto gave a cheer and said:

"Thanks Old Man! That helps a lot. I hope that I won't be meeting you on this anytime soon. I certainly don't want to develop fox ears and tail."

"I'm not sure that you will Naruto." The Hokage replied as he contemplated the idea. "Your claws look more like talons than claws. What that means, I do not know but please report to me anything new. Right now, you probably need to head over to you team meeting place since it is reaching that time that you met."

Naruto gave a yell of surprise over the time and quickly ran out of the room while saying:

"Thanks again, Old Man. I got to go to my team meeting and will see you later."

The Third watched the Fourth's legacy dash out of the room and slam the doors behind him. Bringing out a fresh scroll, he began to write about the new changes happening to Naruto's body and its' implications.

* * *

**A/N:** Have I perked your interest in this story? I have to admit that I'm excited to write this story and hope that readers do enjoy this. I would really like to get some reviews to see people opinions on this. To make things clear, Naruto is not merging with the Kyuubi. What he is, I will not say since that's mostly what this whole story is about: the journey of discovering what he is and whose his family. I do not have any pairings planned since there will be a good reason as to why Naruto isn't paired with anyone. 

Why Naruto was acting a bit out of the norm is mostly he's in shock so that's why he's quiet and everything. Best explanation I can give. To the researching thing, I know that's out of Naruto's character but it's AU and Naruto will act a bit different because of his heritage. My congratulation to anyone who can guess his heritage.

Savanor


	3. Search for a solution

**Disclaimer**: Naruto I don't own 

**Chapter 3**

**In which Naruto searches for a solution**

Naruto jumped from rooftop to rooftop quickly in his haste to reach his team meeting place on time. He certainly didn't want to be later than Kakashi. His mind still in a jumble over the idea of explaining his claws as a bloodline. He then realized that his hands were still bandaged up to hid the claws. He dismissed it for now since he could do that task when he met up with Sasuke and Sakura.

He soon jumped from a rooftop to a tree and kept up his steady speed of tree hopping to the bridge. He spotted Sakura and Sasuke at the red bridge were they usually met and gave a small sigh of relief as he notice that Kakashi hadn't arrived yet. He leapt from a tree branch down to the ground and jogged up to the bridge while yelling:

"Morning Sakura-chan! I've got something cool to show you!"

Sakura turned from her Sasuke watching and gave a look of annoyance.

"I'm not really interested in seeing the newest brand of ramen Naruto!" she yelled back to him.

"It doesn't have anything to do with ramen though I wish they did come up with a new flavor. Barbeque chicken sounds good for a flavor."

Sasuke muttered the word dolt at that statement which Naruto heard.

"I'm not a dolt!" he yelled as he shook one bandaged fist at Sasuke. "Why I should…"

"Naruto! What happened to your hands?" Sakura interrupted as she eyed Naruto's job of bandaging his hands. "Did you spill hot water on your hands while preparing breakfast?"

"Nope!" Naruto said happily, distracted from exacting revenge for Sasuke's comment. He began to unwind the bandages on his hands while explaining: "I wrapped my hands to keep myself from ripping my clothes since I developed a bloodline."

"You with a bloodline? As if." Sasuke said mockingly. He watched carefully as Naruto unwrapped several layers of bandages off his hands. "You're clanless."

"I may be clanless but it doesn't mean I don't have a bloodline." Naruto retorted. "Old man Hokage said it's a new one and seems to be slow developing so I'll have to report to him every now and then on its' progress." He finally managed to unwrap completely his right hand and showed it to his teammates.

"Hnnn." Sasuke said as he looked at the claws. "That's not really a bloodline since any good ninja can grow their nails like that. Look at Kiba."

"Really Naruto, why make such a big deal over growing your nails into points as a bloodline." Sakura added. "And why did you paint them black?"

"I did not paint them black!" Naruto said angrily. "And I did not grow my nails out like this! I woke up this morning to find them like this and went to the Hokage who confirmed that these were definitely part of a new bloodline. Besides, my claws could ripped through clothe really easy so they could be very helpful in a fight!"

"Yeah right dolt." Sasuke said. "Most likely you will hurt yourself in a fight with them."

That did it. No one made fun of him and get away with it. With a yell, Naruto launched himself against Sasuke but found himself held by the nape of his jacket by Kakashi.

"Let me at him!" Naruto protested. "No one makes fun of my bloodline and gets away with it!" He made clawing motions at Sasuke. Kakashi's one eye widen in surprise at the sight of them and then went back to his normal lazy look.

"Those are some interesting nails you have there Naruto."

"They're claws! Old Man said I seem to develop a bloodline from the fight against Haku. Now let me at him!" He struggled against Kakashi's hold on him. Kakashi raised his eyebrow at the statement but kept his hold on Naruto until he calmed down. Only after Naruto calmed down that Kakashi let him go. He gave the team a lazy look and then a happy eye.

"Today we have no mission and will instead do some team practicing."

Naruto gave a small snort in disgust on his comment before smiling happily on the idea of beating Sasuke up with his new claws. He said quickly:

"Hey Sasuke! I challenge you. Prepare yourself to be the loser!" Naruto positioned his body with one foot forward and a clawed hand bared in front of him.

"The only loser around hear is you Naruto." Sasuke replied arrogantly and quickly set himself up against Naruto to attack.

"You never won against Sasuke-kun before and I doubt you will today." Sakura chimed in.

Naruto decided to ignore that comment and mentally prepared himself for the fight ahead. Kakashi motioned Sakura back from the two boys and backed himself away a bit before saying:

"Alright guys, only hand to hand since Naruto needs to improve on it. Begin!"

Naruto launched himself forward against Sasuke and swung his leg up to kick Sasuke's face. Sasuke quickly blocked the kick with his arm and retaliated with a kick to the stomach. Naruto backed off a bit and then winced since he just then discovered that he couldn't close his hands to form a punch because his claws dugged into his palms. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and said:

"You should of considered that the nails would poke into your palms before growing them out dolt!"

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled as he shook out his hands and quickly inspected them to see that his hands were already healed up and just needed a good hand washing. "They're not nails; they're claws Sasuke!" And charged him.

Sasuke positioned himself to block Naruto as he came up and brought down his right arm in a slashing motion. Sasuke, confident that Naruto simply had long nails, kept his place and brought up his arm to block the slash. To his dismay and fury, Naruto's 'nails' went through his forearm guards like a knife through butter and caused a couple huge gashes to form down the length of his forearm. Blood spurted into the air from the wound as Sasuke and Naruto both gazed at the wound in disbelief.

Sasuke then gave a scream in pain as Kakashi rushed up to the two boys. Kakashi quickly brought out a roll of bandages and wound them around the wound. He too was in shock from seeing Naruto's claws ripping through the arm guards like that. Sakura's face went white as a sheet when she saw the gash on Sasuke's arm and whispered:

"Naruto, what did you do to Sasuke-kun's arm?"

"I..I didn't realize how sharp they were." Naruto said, still in shock from what he just did. He never caused so much damage in one attack on Sasuke before. In fact, he never caused damage that totaled up to this much on Sasuke period. He added quietly: "I thought his arm guards would be able to block them."

Kakashi examined his work critically before saying:

"It looks like you're going to need stitches Sasuke. I'll take you to the hospital right now. Practice is over and I need you, Naruto, to find a way to dull your claws down so we don't get another accident like this again." He then grabbed Sasuke's good arm and pulled him in the direction to the hospital without looking at Naruto once. Sakura waited till they were out of sight before rounding on Naruto.

"How could you hurt Sasuke-kun like that! You should of tested out your claws before challenging Sasuke-kun to a fight!"

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan!" Naruto apologized. "I just got them this morning and didn't have time to test them out. Besides," He said with an annoyed look. "I told you guys that they were claws and not nails and that should of clued you in to their sharpness."

"That's not the point!" Sakura yelled, upset that Naruto stood up for himself. "You hurt Sasuke-kun with your idiocy for not blunting your claws you freak!"

Naruto felt really hurt on that comment. Why was Sakura-chan always siding with Sasuke-teme? Couldn't she see that it was an accident with both parties and not simply his own. He watched sadly as Sakura ran away from him to go cheer up Sasuke from the accident. It did look like that Sasuke will get a nasty scar from that wound. Naruto went the opposite direction from Sakura and left the area.

He walked dejectedly down the road as he thought about Sakura. Why did she treat him like that all the time and coo over her precious Sasuke-kun. Sasuke never paid attention to her and act so coldly when he did. Naruto, on the other hand, paid lots of attention to her and always offered up a chance to go eat some ramen with him. He thought her pretty with her bright pink hair and green eyes. He was always attracted to bright colors. That's why he wore orange all the time. He felt a small part of his admiration for Sakura died today. He decided to think of the matter later until he dealt with the matter with his claws.

He screwed his face up as he thought of what he could do with his claws. What could he do to blunt them? He couldn't have them remove since he was certain they would grow back. Bandaging up made his hands look ridiculous and he needed to be able to feel with his hands. He examined his hands until an idea hit him. He should go to Kiba since he had hands similar to Naruto's and must blunt them occasionally. Naruto quickly took to the roofs to get to his team practice place.

It took him a few moments to reach the place where team 8 meets and luckily it turned out that it was team practice for them also. He could see Kiba sparring with Shino while Hinata was talking to their jonin instructor Kurenia. He jumped out of the trees and approached Kurenia.

"Scus me Kurenia-san, but I need to talk to Kiba for a few minutes."

The instructor turned her red eyes from Hinata to Naruto and gave a questioning look.

"Why do you need to talk to Kiba?"

Naruto gave a sigh and showed her his clawed hands. "I need his advice as to how to blunt my claws since I accidently gave Sasuke a huge gash with these and Kakashi told me that I need to find a way to blunt them."

Kurenia gave a small intake in breath at the sight of the claws before she could stifle it. Hinata at this time was blushing furiously and tapping her two index fingers together. She hid herself behind Kurenia whose gaze harden a little as she asked:

"When did you get those?"

"I got them this morning. Old Man Hokage says that I've developing a new bloodline and we're not sure as to what it will develop into. Anyway, I really need to talk to Kiba about how he takes care of his claws."

Kurenia gave a questioning look at this before giving Naruto a small nod in acceptance. She then turned to where Kiba and Shino where sparring.

"Alright boys, that's enough for now. Kiba, you are needed to talk to Naruto about caring for claws."

Kiba and Shino stopped their fighting. Shino didn't say anything as he quietly walked over to Kurenia. Kiba gave Naruto a puzzled look as he walked over to him.

"Why do you need information on taking care of claws?"

"Cause I just developed a bloodline that gives me claws." Naruto said, he was a little annoyed with the fact that he had to repeat himself several times today. He showed Kiba his claws. Kiba looked surprise at the claws and then seem to be jealous at the look of them. He said:

"These look more like talons than claws. Since when do deadlasts develop bloodlines?"

"Since this morning dog-face." Naruto said angrily. "Look, I rather not have an argument about bloodlines and my class placement. I just got out of a fight against Sasuke and gave him a nasty wound in the arm since my claws cut right through his armguards. Kakashi-sensei told me that I need to find a way to blunt them so I don't do something like that again."

"You ripped through Sasuke's armguards with those?!" Kiba yelled in disbelief and looking it. Kurenia shared the same look while Hinata stared at him in awe. Shino was hard to tell with the high collar jacket and sunglasses.

"Yes, I manage to give Sasuke a huge gash with these." Naruto said while flexing his hands in front of him. "I really need to know how I can blunt them down to prevent that."

"I say." Kiba said while examining Naruto's claws closely. He ran a finger over one and promptly got a cut on his finger. "Ouch! I definitely can believe you on that. I never seen claws like these before and so sharp. Usually I have a problem with them being too blunt and not sharp enough."

"Than you can't help me?" Naruto said in dismay. Kiba was the only person he knew who would have an inkling as to what to do in this situation.

"No," Kiba corrected. "I just never seen claws like yours. I still say that they look like talons."

"You and the Hokage."

"Well, what I found useful in shaping my claws is to use a fingernail file."

"A file?" Naruto said questionly. "How do you use a file?"

"Hmm, I don't have one on me to demonstrate to you. I usually do this at home. I suggest that you find a female with one since they tend to carry some on them like Ino cause I know Kurenia-sensei and Hinata don't."

"Ino you said?" Naruto looked thoughtful he nodded his head in thought. "Ok, I'll go to Ino then about this. Thanks Kiba!" He then quickly left the place with team 8 staring at him in disbelief and puzzlement of it all.

Naruto ran away quickly as he headed towards a barbeque place that was well known as team ten's meeting place. He hopped down from a nearby rooftop and snuck into the restaurant without the waiters seeing him. The ramen stand was really the only eating place that would allow him in without throwing him out. He looked over the lunch crowd and spotted Shikamaru's distinct hairdo in a booth. He walked up to the booth that held Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. Asuma, their sensei, wasn't there at the moment.

"Hey guys!" He said happily as he waved to the group. Chouji was busy eating while Shikamaru seemed to be asleep at his spot. Ino had an annoyed look on her face. Naruto looked over to her and asked: "Umm.. Ino, do you have a nail file on you?"

"What do you need a nail file for?" Ino asked puzzled with the fact that Naruto of all people asking for a nail file. Shikamaru sat up from his position and stared at Naruto with a raised brow. Chouji kept eating.

"To help blunt these." Naruto said as he showed his hands. He then quickly said to cut off the questioning. "I developed a new bloodline lately and it's causing me to grow claws that are super sharp. Kakashi-sensei told me to find a way to blunt them down."

"Oh." Ino said with interest and grabbed on of Naruto's hands to look at the talons carefully. She, too, cut herself on them like Kiba. "I see why you need to blunt them. Luckily for you, I have my nail file on me."

"Can you show me how to use it?" Naruto asked.

"Sure," Ino said as she had one hand dig through her ninja pouch. She brought up a myriad of different makeup along with the usual of kunai and shurikans. Her hand finally brought out a metal nail file and she pulled one of Naruto's hands close to her. She applied the file at an angle to one of the claws and began to file away.

As soon as she started, sparks began to fly from the file where it met the talon. Ino immediately stopped and looked at his hands with a perplex face. She tried it again and got the same results. She remove the file away from the talon and examined it closely. Not a mark could be found on it. She then looked at the file and noticed a huge scratch running down its length from where it rubbed against the talon.

"What are your claws made off? Titanium? You manage to ruin my file with them!" Ino yelled at Naruto. Naruto cringed at her voice and apologized.

"Gomen, gomen Ino. I didn't know they were so sharp and hard. I'll pay you back for the ruin nail file."

"You better!" Ino sternly said, somewhat mollified with his apology.

Naruto gave a sigh of frustration over the situation. "What can I do now to blunt them since I can't blunt them in that way."

"You could try putting tape around the talons to blunt them." Shikamaru suggested

Naruto brighten with that suggestion. It sounded like a good idea. Hopefully the tape won't bulge around the claws like the bandages did. He smiled happily at team ten and said:

"Thanks Shikamaru, that sounds like a great idea! Can I…" He was about to ask if he could join them for lunch but one of the restaurant's waiters spotted him and said:

"I have to ask you to leave or I will remove you myself from this fine establishment."

Naruto gave a dejected look at the waiter and left without saying goodbye to team 10. He took to the roof tops again and headed home. His thoughts swirled as his mind dwelled on the waiter's actions. This always seem to happen to him. He never could understand why the villagers treat him the way they do. He was only the carrier of the Kyuubi, not the dumb fox himself. Yet all villiagers like to treat him like he was the fox.

He soon reached his apartment and sat down on the roof of his home. He positioned himself to look at the Hokage monument and started sadly at the Fourth's face. He did not cry but his eyes watered a bit. It wasn't fair. He didn't ask to be the container of the Kyuubi and be abandoned by his parents. People treated him so cruelly at times. Restaurants wouldn't let him eat inside and shopkeepers would over charge him for everything. He didn't eat ramen simply cause he love to eat it but because it was the cheapest stuff he could by. Parents wouldn't let their children near him and taught them to hate him. He disliked it intensily the fact that he came home to an empty apartment. No one to greet him home and give him hugs when he needed them. He would get so lonely at times since no one wanted to be his friend.

His heart ached at that thought as he felt the despair in him mount. No one really wanted to be with him. His team hated him, and the other teams barely tolerated him since he didn't hang out with them all the time. Heck, he only did pranks so he could receive some sort of attention even if it was negative attention. He could count the number of people who showed him positive attention on one hand and not use all fingers. He really wish he had a friend his age. Naruto then pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face into them. All at once a strange voice from out of nowhere said:

"Don't despair Naruto, I'll be your friend."

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, evil me to give you a cliff hanger. Next chapter we'll know who this person is and what role they play in Naruto's life. I know some people don't like OC's but there wasn't any Naruto character that I knew who could fit the part. I hope that this chapter was enjoyable as the others. I couldn't post it sooner since I just went through final's week in college and got home a couple days ago. Hopefully, since summer break has started for me, I can post up new chapters more often for you. Please review and keep guessing why these things are happening to Naruto. I find it fun to read people's ideas as to what is happening. Thankyou! 

Savanor


End file.
